2010 brides

Ok, venues, caterers, and will be booking photographer soon.

Know where i am getting my dresses, and who is doing my flowers...

I've booked the reception venue but the church wont let us book till next year! Chosen my bridesmaids and one of them is making their dresses. Getting my accesories at work, but haven't chosen. Going to make own invitations. Going to look at a dress on Saturday. Waiting for the photographer to send us an info pack. Itching to do stuff!

We won't be able to book anything (flights/accommodation) until this time next year as they won't book more than a year in advance, but this will give us time to save up for the cost of these so we can pay it off in one go. As for the other stuff, I've been looking at dresses and suits for H2B, as well as deciding on where to get the rings from. Everything else, like flowers, will be sorted when we get to Tobago!

As photographers we get a lor of enquiries for weddings 18months plus in advance, but very few booking this far ahead. We get a large chunk about 12 months in advance. Average is probably 9 to 12 months ahead of the wedding date.

Clwyd, Wedding Photographer for Pixcellence
www.pixcellence.co.uk

I've already spoken to the photographer we want and he said he will take the booking, just waiting for the price.

We are getting married in April 2010 and have booked the reception venue. Have paid a deposit for the reg office but cant officially confirm it til next year when we give notice. Have chosen and asked BM and my bridesmaids. Colour scheme sorted and we have placed a reservation with a silk florist as we could researve that far in advance and they had an amazing deal on if we ordered when we did, we don't have to start paying until october and then we can collect them as soon as we like. We have a photographer and videographer combined that we are waiting to see if our budget will stretch too as we were originally not going to have a videographer. We have a lot of financial commitments at the moment from before we met each other and have found that by booking stuff already we have secured them at the current prices, saving loads.

Where and when are you ladies getting wed? I'm in kent - getting married in maidstone x

? Hi Kentishbride, another Kent bride here! We live in Dartford, so not far from you really! We haven't booked a thing yet though, planning on July 2010...ideally we want to book at least the venue soon to ensure we get the date we want as obviously summer weddings get snapped up quickly. We've looked at Rowhill Grange in Wilmington and are going to look at the London Golf Club too. Whereabouts in Maidstone are you getting married?

Stacey x

Well my OH wants to get married in 2010 but being's he's not proposed yet we've booked nothing!

I keep telling him that things get booked up a long time in advance but I don't think he's really getting it.

Well Another Kent Bride, getting married in Faversham...

Hi Jenni, you're not far either then! ?

quote:Originally posted by kentishbride
We are getting married in April 2010 and have booked the reception venue. Have paid a deposit for the reg office but cant officially confirm it til next year when we give notice. Have chosen and asked BM and my bridesmaids. Colour scheme sorted and we have placed a reservation with a silk florist as we could researve that far in advance and they had an amazing deal on if we ordered when we did, we don't have to start paying until october and then we can collect them as soon as we like. We have a photographer and videographer combined that we are waiting to see if our budget will stretch too as we were originally not going to have a videographer. We have a lot of financial commitments at the moment from before we met each other and have found that by booking stuff already we have secured them at the current prices, saving loads.

Where and when are you ladies getting wed? I'm in kent - getting married in maidstone x

id="quote">

Hi Kentish Bride ?

I am in Cambridgeshire getting wed on August 7th 2010. Like you we (more me) have financial commitments from before too. Main reason we cant marry next year.

? stazzle and Jenni

How exciting to have 3 of us so near to each other and all getting wed at same time ?

I'm getting married at Archbishops Palace then the reception is at Larkfield Priory, london rd maidstone. My H2B is the one from maidstone, although we live in medway. Archbishops is beautiful for a reg office which is why we aren't getting married in medway. We chose a reg office wedding as they were relatively cheaper than a civil wedding at a hotel, although they have bumped up the price from £345 to £500 so they aren't so cheap now. We can't pay for the reg office in full til a year before when we give notice, so we have to pay the price it is then. Mind you, they hotel i have for my reception is lush, but i don't like the marriage room much so we will stick with Archbishops anyway.

So no firm dates or venue for either of you then? Maybe we should do a meet at some point, give us a chance to talk to someone who isn't bored to death of weding talk ?

? i'm guessing from your name jenni that you do have a date after all - where is your venue x

quote:Originally posted by kentishbride
? stazzle and Jenni

How exciting to have 3 of us so near to each other and all getting wed at same time ?

I'm getting married at Archbishops Palace then the reception is at Larkfield Priory, london rd maidstone. My H2B is the one from maidstone, although we live in medway. Archbishops is beautiful for a reg office which is why we aren't getting married in medway. We chose a reg office wedding as they were relatively cheaper than a civil wedding at a hotel, although they have bumped up the price from £345 to £500 so they aren't so cheap now. We can't pay for the reg office in full til a year before when we give notice, so we have to pay the price it is then. Mind you, they hotel i have for my reception is lush, but i don't like the marriage room much so we will stick with Archbishops anyway.

So no firm dates or venue for either of you then? Maybe we should do a meet at some point, give us a chance to talk to someone who isn't bored to death of weding talk ?

id="quote">

No firm date for us yet I'm afraid - but we'd ideally want 24th July 2010 so that's what we're going to go for! We'd have booked it sooner but couldn't because of money - as I've just finished a degree so am now looking for a full time job. We weren't sure whether we'd have to pay a huge deposit if we booked now, which we probably couldn't afford to do until I've been in a job for a month or so, but judging by what you said about paying in full a year before it wouldn't seem that way? He's actually just been given a pay rise anyway so that was pretty good, and will help us out!

I've told H2B we really need to get out and seriously look now, with the view to booking it by this July, but various things get in the way it would seem! Namely football, golf and other sports! ? Think I may have to put my foot down now....

Can I ask, when you booked yours did they still have a lot of dates free in 2010 or were they starting to fill up already? I know this isn't going to vary much whether it's Kent or wherever but just so I've got an idea how much time we've got! ?

Am going to take a peek at your venue online now and see if I recognise it....?

quote:Originally posted by Purple Pixie
Well my OH wants to get married in 2010 but being's he's not proposed yet we've booked nothing!

I keep telling him that things get booked up a long time in advance but I don't think he's really getting it.

id="quote">

Mine was exactly the same, except he wanted to do it next year. Eventually he did propose and after a lot of talking, worked out that we cant afford next year anyway!

I'm sure he will realise sooner or later.

OK have had a look and don't recognise it....but it's gorgeous! ❤️ bet it feels very reassuring to have it booked...I'm going to get on H2Bs case about it tonight now I think! ?

Thing is with us is that our wedding is going to be ridiculously and unavoidably huge, as we both have really large families. So obviously that has a lot of financial implications! I'm pretty sure both of our parents are going to help out in some way, but I don't feel the need or want to ask them as I know we can do it on our own, and they haven't said anything yet either!

quote:Originally posted by Stazzle

quote:Originally posted by kentishbride
? stazzle and Jenni

How exciting to have 3 of us so near to each other and all getting wed at same time ?

I'm getting married at Archbishops Palace then the reception is at Larkfield Priory, london rd maidstone. My H2B is the one from maidstone, although we live in medway. Archbishops is beautiful for a reg office which is why we aren't getting married in medway. We chose a reg office wedding as they were relatively cheaper than a civil wedding at a hotel, although they have bumped up the price from £345 to £500 so they aren't so cheap now. We can't pay for the reg office in full til a year before when we give notice, so we have to pay the price it is then. Mind you, they hotel i have for my reception is lush, but i don't like the marriage room much so we will stick with Archbishops anyway.

So no firm dates or venue for either of you then? Maybe we should do a meet at some point, give us a chance to talk to someone who isn't bored to death of weding talk ?

id="quote">

No firm date for us yet I'm afraid - but we'd ideally want 24th July 2010 so that's what we're going to go for! We'd have booked it sooner but couldn't because of money - as I've just finished a degree so am now looking for a full time job. We weren't sure whether we'd have to pay a huge deposit if we booked now, which we probably couldn't afford to do until I've been in a job for a month or so, but judging by what you said about paying in full a year before it wouldn't seem that way? He's actually just been given a pay rise anyway so that was pretty good, and will help us out!

I've told H2B we really need to get out and seriously look now, with the view to booking it by this July, but various things get in the way it would seem! Namely football, golf and other sports! ? Think I may have to put my foot down now....

Can I ask, when you booked yours did they still have a lot of dates free in 2010 or were they starting to fill up already? I know this isn't going to vary much whether it's Kent or wherever but just so I've got an idea how much time we've got! ?

Am going to take a peek at your venue online now and see if I recognise it....?

id="quote">

We booked ours for August 2010 and they hadn't even started the diary for that year! But they won't let us pay deposit until a year before.

You'll find archbishops palce on kent.gov.uk website and reception venue is www.larkfieldpriory.com

With a civil wedding you can't confirm a date until a year before the wedding date as you cant book it until you have given notice - in uk law states that can be no longer than a year in advance. We paid £60 to hold the date until we can confirm it next april.

With regards to the hotel, we have paid £750 to hire the resturant and conservatory for our exclusive use on the day. conservatory is where the dance floor is. We have to pay £1000 3 months before the wedding then the balance 4 weeks before when we give final numbers for meal and evening buffet. We got it at 2007 prices as we booked in december, and they have already put up their prices once this year.

Most people we have spoken to say that they get booked up 12 months apprx before the big day unless summer date is wanted, then 18months at latest. We are getting married on St. george's day so are glad wee are booking things early, if the government do make it a bank hol prices will shoot up so we will have got ourselves an even bigger saving ?

Thanks Zippy that's calmed my worries slightly! This is my problem though - I'm completely clueless about everything ? !

We're probably going to have a civil wedding, so what sort of percentage of the total cost is the deposit usually? E.g we've looked at one venue that will cost about £10 000 for the whole lot (becasue of our ridiculous number of guests!) so how much would deposit would you think they would charge? As if it's about 1000 we could book it now no problem, but H2B was worried some venues may want half the money now or something (don't ask why - he worries a lot.?)

Oooh that's another one we've looked at Kentishbride - Cooling Castle in Rochester, do you know it?

x

Zippy77 that is great that you didn't have to pay a deposit, gives you an even bigger chance to save.

i would say that the sooner you can book at least the venues then do so. It means you wont have to compromise on dates, and that is a very good thing. Also, a lot of couples have an engagement of 18months or so, which meand that after august, most will be looking at 2010 anyway. When we got engaged last august we immediately decided on april 2010 and everynoe said that it was almost 3 years away, next week it will be less than 2 ?

Https://www.mountephraimgardens.co.uk/

This is where I am getting married,we are having a pavilion ceremony ( the two arches in the garden) but i have comfirmed the date but she wont talk to me til this August. I think she wants to get the season out of the way. we are probably going to have drinks in the garden after the ceremony ?

then we are going to the Alexander Centre in the centre of town for the reception.

My family lives in Dover, but i fell in love with the gardens, so that was the end of the discussion for me!

quote:Originally posted by kentishbride
Zippy77 that is great that you didn't have to pay a deposit, gives you an even bigger chance to save.

i would say that the sooner you can book at least the venues then do so. It means you wont have to compromise on dates, and that is a very good thing. Also, a lot of couples have an engagement of 18months or so, which meand that after august, most will be looking at 2010 anyway. When we got engaged last august we immediately decided on april 2010 and everynoe said that it was almost 3 years away, next week it will be less than 2 ?

id="quote">

I know what you mean, time goes so quickly especially when you think you've got loads!

Thanks for what you said about giving notice - I wouldn't have known this! So how did you go about that - you just paid to save the date with your venue and you'll then go and give notice when you can? Where can you do this by the way?!

Apologies again - I really have no clue about weddings for a bride-to-be!! ?

Oh and it was the first thing I booked, and i didnt have much choice on dates! They have concerts there and stuff so I had to choose my dates around them. Not too bad.

I would definately suggest doing it now, i tried to book for 2009 back in Feb and was told its all booked up.

Jen

I have yes, gorgeous venue. The reason we didn't chose it was coz as we are getting married in Spring - the lawn in the middle would be a nightmare to get over if it rained. Also, we are having a relatively small ceremony with only 55 guests and it you have to pay for a mimimum of 80 guests.

Most palces wont want half now, more likely nearer the time is when you have to start paying it off in chunks x

Glad you asked, coz i have no idea.. so any clues on this might be a plan!

It really doesnt help that everyone i know is getting married in a church...

We have booked the reception venue for definate. i can only speak for maidstone registry office but what we did was call them and tell them the date we wanted to get married on. they had it free and have written us in - we paid £60 for this. This means that no-one else can have this date now - if you were to phone up and asked for it they would tell you that the time slot we have is no longer available. After 23rd april 2009 we have to go to medway registry office as that is where we live and give notice - basically they ask us questions and we have to give over ID like birth certificate and passport so they can run checks and prove we are not already married. This takes 12 days and then we have to marry within a year of that date. So we can marry between 5th may and 23rd april 2010 or we have to give notice again.

The onlytime we would loose the date at the reg office would be if after we had given notice we didn't call them to pay the balance and confirm - they would then let it go to someone else after sept 2009 as they wouldn't want to loose the space.

Hope that helps x

I would suggest that you contact either your venue or your local place for births dealths and marriages to find out the policy in your area. Your venue won't usually sort this out for you, and you have to pay for them to come and conduct your ceremony at the venue if it isnt a reg office x

quote:Originally posted by kentishbride
We have booked the reception venue for definate. i can only speak for maidstone registry office but what we did was call them and tell them the date we wanted to get married on. they had it free and have written us in - we paid £60 for this. This means that no-one else can have this date now - if you were to phone up and asked for it they would tell you that the time slot we have is no longer available. After 23rd april 2009 we have to go to medway registry office as that is where we live and give notice - basically they ask us questions and we have to give over ID like birth certificate and passport so they can run checks and prove we are not already married. This takes 12 days and then we have to marry within a year of that date. So we can marry between 5th may and 23rd april 2010 or we have to give notice again.

The onlytime we would loose the date at the reg office would be if after we had given notice we didn't call them to pay the balance and confirm - they would then let it go to someone else after sept 2009 as they wouldn't want to loose the space.

Hope that helps x

id="quote">

SUCH a help - thanks!! ?

I'll keep you updated on my progress and will definitely keep a look out for you and Jenni as my fellow Kent brides ?

Good luck with everything! ?

My name's Stacey by the way ?

I'm Janice ?

Are either of you going to the Detling Wedding fayre next sunday 27th? last big fayre before september. And its massive.

I'm not sure but it may be possible, whereabouts is it?

Actually now I think about it I may just be very lucky with our reception as not only do they want a deposit 1 year before, its only £300 and we dont pay the full balance until after the wedding (within 14 days). They said that way if we use less champagne for toasts than quoted or less drinks on arrival (if people dont want etc) or if we decide on the night to offer more wine then they can adjust accordongly. THe way they work it with wine is that we initially say we want 1/2 bottle per person and they keep serving till thats all gone, if they haven't gone through all that by end of meal we can choose to continue through evening with whats left or make a saving on the cost. They are sooo flexible on the menu too and will do half portions for kids instead of chicken nuggets etc.

Detling showground is in Maidstone - just off of detling hill. Was about to suggest that if you were we could maybe meet up in their coffee shop or something? It really does have everything - huge marquees with suppliers showing their services - cars, floweers, djs cakes etc. x